Hotel sector stocks dropped with the broader market on Thursday as disappointing back-to-school retail sales and a spike in workers applying for unemployment benefits stoked investors' fears about the outlook for consumer spending.
The Labor Department said new applications for unemployment insurance rose by 15,000, reversing three weeks of declines.
Hotel companies stocks have suffered this year as consumers and businesses cut back on travel and other discretionary spending amid soaring fuel prices and a U.S. economic downturn. The sector has improved slightly in recent weeks as oil prices have fallen from their record highs in mid-July.
Oil prices continued to fall on Thursday, but the gloomy unemployment and retail data fueled anxiety about consumer spending and the broader economy.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which posted one of the smallest sector declines, announced a deal Thursday with Las Vegas Sands to develop The St. Regis Residences, totaling 398 private luxury residences, at the Venetian Palazzo in Las Vegas. The residential project is now under construction.
In a statement, Las Vegas Sands Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon G. Adelson said the development's location and luxury brand would lure residents, despite the difficult economic environment. He noted that occupancy for the Venetian and Palazzo totaled nearly 95 percent in August, a traditionally slower month.
Here is a look at how some major hotel companies' stocks were faring on Thursday afternoon:
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, down 36 cents to $36.27.
Marriott International Inc., down 47 cents to $28.55.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, down 57 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $13.14.
Wyndham Worldwide Corp., down 59 cents, or 3 percent, to $19.13.
Red Lion Hotels Corp., down 24 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $8.42.
Morgans Hotels Group Co., down 83 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $16.73.
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